Frank Sargeson: A Life

Viking, Auckland, 1995. May have age discolouration. With dw

Frank Sargeson (1903-82) was the first major New Zealand writer to remain in New Zealand. From the 1930s, he turned New Zealand writing in a new direction, publishing short stories that 'moulded the language and rhythm of everyday New Zealand speech into a literary form' and won acclaim throughout the English-speaking world.

Born in Hamilton, where his father was a leader in the Methodist Church, Sargeson qualified as a solicitor, travelled to Britain and Europe, then spent nearly two years on an uncle's King Country farm before establishing himself as a writer on Auckland's North Shore in 1931.

Sargeson was a man of contradictions. At times quarrelsome and even malicious, he was also generous and deeply compassionate as a mentor to younger writers, notably Janet Frame, and in caring for social derelicts. He was unflinchingly honest about most things, yet every aspect of his life and writing was touched by the need to conceal his homosexuality and a traumatic court case which arose from it.